A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network connections, and more particularly, to a protocol for reserving bandwidth over an IP network.
B. Description of Related Art
VoIP is a term used in IP telephony for a set of facilities for managing the delivery of voice information using the Internet Protocol (IP). In general, this means sending voice information in digital form in discrete packets rather than in the traditional circuit-committed protocols of the public switched telephone network (PSTN).
Quality of service (QoS) is a significant factor in developing VoIP networks. An acceptable voice call should maintain minimum bandwidth and latency levels throughout the call. This is in contrast to traditional IP-based communications in which variable connection quality is acceptable. Accordingly, IP networks tend to not have native QoS guarantees.
In an effort to enable IP networks to provide guaranteed bandwidth data paths, protocols for reserving resources in an IP network have been developed. Such protocols include the resource reservation protocol (RSVP) and the CR-LDP protocol. Hosts running RSVP request specific qualities of service from a network for particular application data streams or flows. RSVP, however, from the perspective of the client devices running RSVP, can be a relatively complex protocol that occupies the place of a transport protocol in the protocol stack. Additionally, RSVP requires its clients to include a fairly large version of the IP stack.
There is a need in the art for a resource reservation protocol that overcomes the limitations of existing systems and methods.